On the Jubilee

"Whether in both an ordinary and an extraordinary Jubilee all the rules handed down by the Holy Father Benedict XIV, to which the Bull of the Jubilee is not opposed, are to be observed? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 6 February 1852. This general Decree was confirmed by Pius IX on 15 March of the same year. Cf. Benedict XIV, Constitutions Cum Nos nuper, Convocatis, Inter praeteritos, and Celebrationem.

"It pleases the Holy See that the indulgences, faculties, and indults granted by the Bull of the Crusade remain in force also in this Jubilee year; and let the Most Eminent Archbishop take care that this favor come to the knowledge of those whom it concerns, by sending letters to the Commissioners of the Crusade in Sicily and to the Archbishop of the Diocese of Naples for the Commissioners of Southern Italy." Sacred Penitentiary, 19 January 1900.

"The Bull of Pius IV, Divina disponente clementia, of 17 July 1561 remaining in force, the Indulgences of the Holy Land granted therein remain valid and in force also in this Jubilee year. - By special and express Apostolic authority, the Sacred Penitentiary graciously grants that the faculties granted by the Sacred Penitentiary to Confessors remain valid and in force this year in favor of all pilgrims in the Holy Places." Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 2 April 1900.

"Whether the suspension of faculties made by the Bull Quod Pontificum on 30 September 1899, by reason of the Jubilee, comprehends, with no exception made, the faculties in the printed folio customarily granted by the Sacred Penitentiary to Ordinaries and confessors for the internal forum? - Response. This suspension does not extend to those penitents who, at the time of confession, in the judgment of the Ordinary or confessor, cannot here and now approach the City without grave inconvenience." Sacred Penitentiary, 21 December 1899.

"The Sacred Penitentiary, after mature consideration of the matters set forth, declares that, by the Bull Quod Pontificum, all the faculties which Bishops and Ordinaries have, whether from the common ecclesiastical law, especially that of the Council of Trent, or from a special Indult perhaps granted by the Apostolic See in some particular case for determined persons expressly designated by name, remain valid and in force for both forums and for any cases whatsoever, both occult and public.

"But all the other faculties, whether temporary or perpetual, granted in whatever manner, whether by the Sacred Penitentiary, by some Sacred Congregation, or even immediately by the Supreme Pontiff Himself, cease entirely if they are for the internal forum; if they are for the external forum (of which kind the faculty of dispensing in mixed marriages is to be considered), they remain.

"But in order to make provision for those who are legitimately impeded from approaching Rome, provision was made by the declaration of this Sacred Penitentiary given on 21 December 1899." Sacred Penitentiary, 19 January 1900; M. E., vol. 11, p. 495.

"Those who, for any cause whatsoever, fulfill or complete the prescribed conditions partly in one diocese and partly in another can gain the Jubilee, if they observe the ordinances of the Ordinaries of the places." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 January 1886; 1875.

"When in the Apostolic Letters by which the Jubilee of this year is proclaimed two fasts are prescribed, nothing is expressly determined as to whether they must be performed in one and the same week. It is therefore asked: Must these two fasts be performed on two days of one and the same week? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 11 March 1886.

"The indult (Bull Gravibus Ecclesiae, 24 December 1874) for those sailing and making a journey who are prevented from performing, during the course of the Jubilee year, the works enjoined for gaining the Jubilee is extended even beyond the year." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

The same Sacred Penitentiary, on 30 January 1886, responding to questions concerning the extension of the Jubilee of that same year for travelers, said: "In the present Jubilee nothing concerning an extension is to be proposed."

Can one Confession and Communion, generally speaking, satisfy the precept of annual confession and Paschal Communion and at the same time acquire the Jubilee? - Response. Negative. Sacred Penitentiary, 25 January 1875; 27 February 1879; 25 March 1881; 15 January 1886.

"In the Admonitions Extracted from the Constitutions of Benedict XIV, at no. XIV, it is read: If anyone, after making Confession, should fall into mortal sin (which may God avert) before he has fulfilled all the works enjoined for gaining the Jubilee, he will have to make Confession again before he fulfills at least the last of those enjoined works, in order that he may obtain the Indulgence annexed to the Jubilee. It is asked: In this case, does Holy Communion suffice for the final work? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 20 February 1900.

"Whether public oratories can be numbered among the churches to be visited? - Response. Affirmative, provided that the oratories themselves are devoted to public worship and Mass is customarily celebrated in them." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; 1879; 25 March 1881; 15 January 1886.

"Whether, in order to distinguish the visits numerically, it is necessary and sufficient that the faithful leave and again enter the same designated church? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"Insofar as four visits in a day must be performed in the same church, it is asked whether, in order to distinguish visits of this kind from one another, it is necessary to leave the church after each one, or whether it suffices, while remaining in the same church, to pass from one place to another, or even merely to rise, as is commonly done for the Stations of the Holy Way of the Cross? - Response. It is necessary to leave the church." Sacred Penitentiary, 25 January 1875.

"Concerning the following doubt regarding the visitation of the Sacred Basilicas, which is prescribed as a necessary condition for gaining the Jubilee indulgence, it is asked: Whether, when the visitation of the four Basilicas has been completed on the same natural day, a new visitation of the four Basilicas can begin immediately when a new ecclesiastical day begins, by entering again the Basilica visited last? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 31 January 1900.

"In the Admonitions Extracted from the Constitutions of Benedict XIV, no. XXIV, it is read: 'The visitation of the four Basilicas must be made in one day, namely, either from one midnight to the next, or from the Vespers of the preceding day until the evening twilight of the following day.'

"It is asked for the safe practice of the faithful: Whether one who, for example, after the fourteenth hour of the civil day, has completed the visitation of the four Basilicas, whether he followed the reckoning of the natural or the ecclesiastical day, can again enter the last Basilica and there immediately repeat a new visit, with the intention of completing the remaining visits on the following day?

"Response. Abstracting from the determination of the time at which Vespers begin, concerning which he should consult approved Authors, as regards the rest, affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 20 February 1900.

Visits to churches can precede or follow confession and Communion. Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, 27 August 1776. Cf. Bizzarri, ed. 1885, p. 392. But generally, with respect to indulgences, although it may be said in the Indult: "those who, having confessed and been refreshed by Holy Communion, shall visit a church on this or that day," etc., nevertheless the visit "can be fulfilled either before or after the fulfillment of the other pious works." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 19 May 1759.

"Whether religious can gain the Jubilee by performing in their own church the visits prescribed for this purpose? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"Whether abbots and regular prelates, since they have quasi-episcopal jurisdiction over subjects within the enclosure of their respective monastery, can designate the church or oratory of their own monastery to be visited by their subjects for gaining the Jubilee indulgence? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 December 1886.

"Whether the visits which he [the Ordinary] performs together with the chapter and seminary, in garments that are not choral but black, chanting in a subdued voice, can be considered as processions to the four churches designated for gaining the Jubilee; and consequently whether it is at his [the same Ordinary's] discretion to diminish the number of visits, just as it is within his faculty to diminish those which are made processionally? - Response. Insofar as processions cannot be made in the customary manner, affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; 30 January 1886.

"The faithful who in processions remain outside the doors of the church or oratory because of its narrowness, and pray with the others, form one body morally and consequently satisfy the visitation for gaining the Jubilee." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"The fast prescribed for obtaining the Jubilee cannot be fulfilled on days reserved by strict law for fasting, nor on the Ember Days during the year, and not unless fasting foods are employed, the use of any indult or privilege whatsoever, even of the Bull of the Crusade, being forbidden with respect to the quality of foods. But in those places where it is difficult to use fasting foods, the Ordinaries can grant that eggs and milk products may be used, the form of the ecclesiastical fast being observed in other respects." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 January 1886; 26 February 1879; 25 March 1881.

"Whether in the fast required for the Jubilee the use of eggs and milk products is lawful at least in those regions in which, by custom or dispensation, it is permitted in fasts enjoined by a precept of the Church? ... - Response. ... Let the declaration of the same Sacred Penitentiary which is transmitted herewith stand. ... Let fasting foods be employed, the use of any indult or privilege whatsoever, even of the Bull of the Crusade, being forbidden with respect to the quality of foods. ..." Sacred Penitentiary, 4 March 1879.

Fasting foods exclude meats, eggs, and milk products. From the cited Responses and another Response of the same Sacred Penitentiary, 2 April 1881.

"The quantity [of alms] ought so far to correspond to the means of individuals, insofar as that which suffices for the poor does not suffice for the rich." Sacred Penitentiary, 30 January 1886.

"When a just cause arises for commuting the enjoined works prescribed in the Bull of the present Jubilee (8 December 1864), can such a commutation be made outside the act of sacramental confession? - Response. From the declaration made by Our Most Holy Lord Pope Pius IX, affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 16 March 1865.

"The petitioner supplicates that the confessor may be able to commute them [the works enjoined] and to dispense from Communion with children not yet capable of Communion, even outside the act of sacramental confession. - Response. Not expedient." Sacred Penitentiary, 30 January 1886.

"The petitioner supplicates that the confessor may be able to commute the works enjoined for the Jubilee, or some of them, not only once but several times, for one who wishes to gain the Jubilee several times. - Response. Confessors do not lack this faculty." Sacred Penitentiary, 30 January 1886.

"Whether, in favor of those who intend to repeat the Holy Jubilee, the works enjoined by the Most Holy Father can be commuted, just as for just and reasonable motives they can be commuted the first time that someone gains the Jubilee? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 18 March 1886.

"Whether confessors delegated by the Bishop [outside Rome] by force of the Bull Aeterni pastoris can use, outside confession, the faculties of commuting the visits to the Basilicas [for those impeded from coming to Rome]? - Response. Affirmative, but toward their own penitents." Sacred Penitentiary, 10 May 1900.

"Whether one who has already gained the Jubilee indulgence the first time can gain it again if he repeats the works enjoined? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1 June 1869; 26 February 1879; 25 March 1881; 15 January 1886. Nevertheless, the same Sacred Penitentiary on 25 January 1875 declared: "By force of the present Jubilee ... the indulgence of the Jubilee itself can be acquired only once." In the Encyclical Letter of Pius IX Gravibus Ecclesiae of 24 December 1874, by which a great Jubilee was proclaimed, these words are contained: "let them obtain ... the most plenary indulgence ... once."

"Once, that is, only the first time [the Jubilee can be acquired] with respect to the other favors [annexed to the same Jubilee], namely, absolutions from censures and from reserved cases, commutations, or dispensations." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 January 1886; 1 June 1869; 25 January 1875; 26 February 1879; 25 March 1881.

"Whether confessors can absolve a penitent who, having already been absolved from reserved cases and from censures, has fallen into them again before he has fulfilled the works prescribed for acquiring the Jubilee? - Response. By virtue of the Jubilee one can be absolved from reserved cases and from censures only once, or, negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1885. Cf. Lehmkuhl, Theologia Moralis, ed. 1884, no. 555.

"1. Whether a person can be absolved by his confessor on the ground that he had never been entangled in any reserved case in his previous confessions and therefore had never used this Jubilee privilege? - 2. If affirmative, whether he must again perform the works which are enjoined for obtaining the Jubilee? - 3. Whether the solution which Your Eminence shall deign to render is to be regarded as a general rule to be observed also in other Jubilees? - Response. To 1 and 2. Affirmative. To 3. The Apostolic Letters are to be observed." Sacred Penitentiary, 1873.

"Whether confessors can use the extraordinary faculties toward one who indeed asks to be absolved and dispensed, but does not have the will to perform the works enjoined and to gain the Jubilee? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1 June 1869; 15 January 1886.

"With respect to the choice of a confessor, must he be approved by the Ordinary of the place or by the Ordinary of the order [with respect to regulars]? - Response. According to the Apostolic Letter Gravibus Ecclesiae, in order to gain the Jubilee, regulars can choose for themselves any confessor who is nevertheless approved by the Ordinaries of the places for hearing the confessions of secular persons." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"Since the Bull proclaiming the Jubilee grants that a confessor be chosen from those actually approved and does not add by the Ordinaries of the places, can a regular choose a regular priest approved only by the regular superior and not by the Ordinary of the place, and receive from him the application of the privileges or faculties of the Jubilee? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 30 January 1886.

"Whether, as concerns the faculties of absolving, there are other limitations besides those which were made in the Brief beginning Arcano, and whether one can be absolved from heresy manifested externally and the obligation of denouncing heretics and their supporters ceases? - Response. ... One can indeed be absolved from heresy, but heretics, their supporters, and others are to be denounced according to law." Sacred Penitentiary, 16 March 1865.

"Whether the faculty of absolving penitents from heresy is contained among the faculties granted for the Jubilee? - Response. Affirmative, the errors having first been abjured and retracted, according to law." Sacred Penitentiary, 1 June 1869. "The abjuration can be secret before the confessor himself." Sacred Penitentiary, 20 February 1900; M. E., vol. 12, p. 13.

"The same His Holiness moreover grants that, during the Jubilee, the faithful rightly disposed can be absolved even from the crime of heresy, the obligation, however, of abjuring the errors or the heresy, repairing scandals, etc., according to law, remaining in force." Sacred Penitentiary, 25 January 1875; A. S. S., vol. 4, p. 617.

Can those guilty of rebellion against the pontifical civil government and those who have unlawfully acquired ecclesiastical goods in Italy be absolved by virtue of the Jubilee? - Response. Affirmative, under the conditions expressed in the Letters of the Sacred Penitentiary of 2 June 1869. Sacred Penitentiary, same day and year; 25 January 1875; 26 February 1879; 25 March 1881.

"In other Jubilees the faculty of commuting vows by dispensing is customarily granted; but in the present Jubilee only the faculty of commuting them is granted. Can it be understood that in this case also the faculty of commuting vows by dispensing has been granted? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"Whether, during the time of the present Jubilee, confessors may use several times the extraordinary faculties granted to them toward the same penitent who has not yet fulfilled all the works enjoined for gaining the Jubilee indulgence? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 25 January 1901.

"The privilege is not granted to the consecrated altar stone, so that any fixed altar upon which a portable stone is placed would become privileged; but it is given to a determined altar specially dedicated in honor of some Saint, so that the privilege itself inheres exclusively in the fixed altar." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 27 September 1843, case from Liege.

"1. Can a simply consecrated stone, which they call a portable or traveling Altar, enjoy the privilege? - 2. Is it necessary that the Altar be fixed in the strict liturgical sense [namely, made entirely of stone, whose mensa consists of only one stone immediately joined to the supports and consecrated], in order that it can be adorned with the privilege? 3. Does it suffice that it be even of wood, by no means fixed to the wall, with a stone consecrated in the middle of the mensa and specially dedicated to some Saint? - Response. To 1. Negative. - To 2. Negative. - To 3. Affirmative." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 15 July 1902.

For gaining the indulgence of a privileged altar, the application of the Mass is necessary, which must be a Requiem Mass when it is permitted by the rubric. Sacred Congregation of Rites, 22 July 1848, case from Belley.

"Whether a Mass celebrated at a privileged altar is privileged of itself, or whether it is necessary that either the one offering the alms or the priest intend the application of the privilege? - Response. Affirmative to the first part; negative to the second." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 12 March 1855, case from Verona.

"Whether the Indulgence of a privileged altar can be gained for the soul of one departed person if the respective Mass is offered not only for the departed person but at the same time also for the living? - Response. Negative; and let the Decree in a case from Squillace, given on 25 August 1897 at doubt 2, be given." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 23 January 1901.

"1. Can the indulgence of a privileged altar be separated from the application or fruit of the Sacrifice when the Sacrifice is to be celebrated for the departed?

"2. Can the same indulgence of a privileged altar be separated when the Sacrifice is celebrated for the living, so that the aforesaid indulgence can be applied for the departed according to the choice of the celebrant?

"3. How is the inscription which is found on some altars, of this tenor, to be understood: Privileged altar for the living and the departed?

"Response. To 1 and 2. Negative. - To 3. It is to be interpreted in such a way that even for the living, if the Sacrifice of the Mass is applied for the living at the altar in question, a plenary indulgence is understood to have been granted: for the living after the manner of jurisdiction; for the departed after the manner of suffrage." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 5 August 1897; M. E., vol. 12, p. 532 ff.

"Whether the privilege of an altar, whether properly so called or personal, can be applied to the souls of several departed persons in a Mass of any day [the requisite conditions being observed], just as it was expressly, but specially, declared by the Sacred Congregation on 19 May 1761 for a Mass on the day of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, 2 November? - Response. Negative." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 29 February 1864, case from Angers.

"1. The confidence which the faithful retain that the celebration of thirty Masses, which are commonly called Gregorian, is specially efficacious, through the good pleasure and acceptance of divine mercy, for the liberation of a soul from the punishments of Purgatory, is pious and reasonable; and the practice of celebrating these Masses is approved in the Church. - 2. The confidence which the faithful retain that the celebration of Mass at the altar of Saint Gregory in his church on the Caelian Hill is specially efficacious, through the good pleasure and acceptance of divine mercy, for the liberation of a soul from the punishments of Purgatory, is pious and approved in the Church. - 3. The same is to be said of Gregorian altars ad instar." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 15 March 1884; 24 August 1888; A. S. S., vol. 16, p. 508 ff.; vol. 21, p. 254 ff.

"1. Can the Masses which are called Gregorian and are to be celebrated for the departed, according to the most ancient institution of Saint Gregory recognized and approved by the Church, also be celebrated for the living? - 2. Is any indulgence from the Supreme Pontiffs annexed to those Gregorian Masses, as is read in the cited work of the Reverend D. Louvet? And insofar as the response is affirmative: 3. For whom was the same indulgence granted, only for the departed or also for the living? - 4. If the aforesaid Masses cannot be said for the living, to what will a priest be bound who in good faith celebrated them for the living at the request of such persons?

"Response. To 1. Negative. - To 2. It is not established that an indulgence was granted; but from the Decree of this Sacred Congregation of 13 March 1884, the pious practice and special confidence which the faithful retain, that the celebration of thirty Masses is specially efficacious, through the good pleasure and acceptance of divine mercy, for the liberation of souls from the punishments of Purgatory, was recognized and approved. - To 3. Provision was made in the preceding responses. - To 4. A priest who celebrated the Masses according to the intention of the one offering, who thought that suffrages could be anticipated while life still endured, is bound to nothing." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 24 August 1888.

"Our Most Holy Lord Pope Pius IX not only confirmed anew the indulgences already granted for the heroic act of charity, but also willed to declare them as follows: 1. That priests professing this oblation can enjoy the Indult of a personal privileged altar on every day of the year. - 2. That all the Christian faithful who make the same vow or oblation can gain a plenary indulgence applicable only to the faithful departed on whatever day they approach Holy Communion, and on every Monday of the year when they hear the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in suffrage for those same faithful departed, provided that in either case they shall have visited some church or public oratory and shall have prayed there piously for some space of time according to the intention of His Holiness. - 3. That it is lawful for the same Christian faithful likewise to apply to the souls of the departed each and every indulgence, granted in whatever manner or to be granted hereafter, which they can gain. - 4. That, in order that perpetual aid may be given more and more to souls committed to the expiatory flames, this indult is to be regarded as extended, insofar as is necessary, to the Christian faithful throughout the whole world who make the said oblation. Moreover, the same His Holiness, having before His eyes both adolescents who do not yet approach Holy Communion and the sick, the elderly, farmers, those detained in prisons, and the other faithful who cannot either approach the Holy Synaxis or hear the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Monday, mercifully granted that, for each and every one of the Christian faithful who, because of a legitimate impediment, cannot hear Mass on Monday, the Mass which they are bound by precept to hear on Sunday shall suffice for the acquisition of the aforesaid indulgence granted, as above, on every Monday; but for each and every one of the faithful who either are not yet capable of receiving the Holy Eucharist or for another legitimate reason cannot receive this Sacrament, He graciously entrusted to the judgment of the respective Ordinary of places for the time being the faculty of subdelegating an approved confessor for the opportune commutation of Communion into other works. Anything to the contrary notwithstanding, etc." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 20 November 1854, Urbi et Orbi.

"1. Whether among the satisfactory works which in the heroic act of charity are offered for the souls in Purgatory are comprehended also indulgences which have been declared by the Supreme Pontiffs applicable to the Christian faithful departed?

"2. Whether this oblation is satisfied by those who wish to reserve for themselves the indulgences which are granted for the living; or whether these indulgences must be applied to the departed in order to satisfy the pious resolution, according to the indult granted by the Supreme Pontiff to those making the heroic act of charity?

"3. Whether, first, it is an integral part of the heroic act of charity, or a condition prescribed for participation in the privileges, that all one's own satisfactions and indulgences not only be offered for the souls in Purgatory but also be left to the Blessed Virgin to be distributed as shall have pleased her; or, second, whether this placing into the hands of the Virgin is to be regarded only as a pious devotion accessory to the act and to be commended to the Christian faithful?

"4. Whether the plenary indulgences which the Christian faithful making the heroic act of charity gain both because of Holy Communion and because of hearing Mass on Monday must be applied to the souls which the Blessed Virgin Mary desires to liberate from Purgatory before others, or can be applied to any soul in Purgatory?

"5. Whether the plenary indulgence of a personal privileged altar, first, must be applied by a priest who has made the heroic act of charity to the soul for whom he celebrates Mass; or, second, can be applied at will to any departed person; or, third, must be applied to the souls which the Blessed Virgin Mary desires to liberate from Purgatory?

"Response. To 1. Affirmative. - To 2. Negative to the first part; affirmative to the second. - To 3. Negative to the first part; affirmative to the second. - To 4. Provision was made in the preceding responses. "To 5. To the first part, affirmative, for in this manner the privilege of the altar is granted by the Supreme Pontiff; as to the second and third parts, provision was made in the response to the first part." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 18 December 1885.

"Whether, for gaining the indulgences granted for the visitation of the fourteen Stations of the Way of the Cross, the recitation of six Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory Bes is required in addition to the aforesaid visitation of the Stations? - Response. For obtaining the indulgences granted for the visitation of the fourteen Stations of the Way of the Cross, nothing else is required than, while meditating on the Passion of our divine Redeemer Jesus Christ, to proceed from one Station to another, insofar as the multitude of persons visiting the aforesaid Stations or the capacity of the place in which they have been erected permits. Thus the matter stands from the Bull Inter plurima of Benedict XIII, 3 March 1726, confirmed by another Bull, Exponi nobis, of Clement XII, dated 16 January 1731, and the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences dated 3 April 1731, and also the Brief of Benedict XIV which begins Cum tanta, dated 30 August 1741. Hence it is that We adore You, O Christ; the Our Father; the Hail Mary, etc.; and Have mercy on us, O Lord, are only a laudable custom introduced by the pious Christian faithful into the exercise of visiting the Stations of the Way of the Cross. In witness whereof .... 22 September 1829."

"If this indulgence is imparted immediately after sacramental absolution, the other things being omitted, the priest shall say absolutely:

"'May Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave to the blessed Apostle Peter the power of binding and loosing, Himself absolve you from every bond of offenses, so that you may have eternal life and live forever and ever. Amen.

"'Through the most holy Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the prayers and merits of the most blessed ever-Virgin Mary, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, of our blessed Father N., and of all the Saints, by the authority committed to me by the Supreme Pontiffs, I impart to you a plenary indulgence of all your sins. In the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.'" Authentic Decrees, no. 444.

"Whether the Ordinary under whose jurisdiction Tertiary nuns live can delegate a Priest of his choosing, who is not approved for hearing the confessions of the nuns, to impart general absolutions and Apostolic blessings to those same nuns? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 27 May 1903.

"1. Whether Pious Unions or Societies which do not at all come under the name of Confraternities and Congregations are comprehended under the enactments of the Constitution of Clement VIII which begins Quaecumque?

"2. Whether for the erection of Confraternities, for example, of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Most Holy Rosary, of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, or of the Sorrowful Virgin, and of other such confraternities which are erected by Religious Orders in their respective Churches, the consent of the Ordinary is necessary?

"Response. To 1. Affirmative, with respect to erection or institution, with respect to the approval of statutes, with respect to aggregation, and with respect to the publication of Indulgences. - To 2. If there is question of Confraternities properly so called, that is, constituted after the manner of an organic body and with a sackcloth habit, affirmative; if of Confraternities taken broadly, sufficient provision was made by the consent given by the Ordinary for the erection of the Convent of the Order in the diocese." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 5 August 1897.

"1. Whether, in enrolling the Christian faithful in the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, scapulars can licitly and validly be employed which, although made of wool, are nevertheless covered on one side with silk or cotton cloth, and on the other by an image which covers the entire or almost the entire scapular, so that the cloth does not appear at all or almost at all?

"2. What is to be held when one scapular bears an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, while the other, which is joined by a band, bears an image of the Sorrowful Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Most Holy Rosary, or even of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus?

"3. Whether the names of those enrolled in the Confraternity must necessarily be sent to the nearest Confraternity, or rather whether it is free to transmit them to the Moderator of any Confraternity?

"4. Whether, in the enrollment of several persons, the single formula in the plural number which, by the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences of 18 April 1891, can be employed is to be said before the imposition is begun, or rather while the first imposition is made?

"5. Whether, in the case set forth above, since men and women are generally to be enrolled, it is fitting to say: 'Receive, men and women,' or simply, 'Receive this habit,' as is found in the formula of the breviary approved in the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites dated 24 July 1888?

"Response. To 1. Negative. - To 2. The variety of images does not impair the validity of the scapular, provided that the color, form, and cloth appear in the scapular, which are to be retained as substantial; excepting, however, the scapulars of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in which the proper images are necessary. - To 3. Negative to the first part; affirmative to the second part. - To 4. The formula in the case is to be said immediately before the scapulars begin to be imposed, with the priest holding them in his hands. - To 5. If the men can easily be separated from the women and the function can be performed in a twofold act, which would certainly be more fitting, then, as customary, the longer formula could be employed, with the requisite changes. But if in one act the men are to be enrolled indiscriminately with the women, then, in order to avoid cacophony, the shorter formula is better employed, by saying only: 'Receive this habit,' etc." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 18 June 1898.

"1. Is it necessary that the members of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel recite the Little Office as it exists in the Roman Breviary, even if the greater part of the people are entirely ignorant of the Latin language? - 2. Are those members who do not know how to read, and therefore in place of reciting the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary are bound to observe abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday, also bound to observe it on Friday, as the faithful who are not Latin Americans are actually bound? - 3. Are they likewise bound to observe all the fasts of the universal Church without being able to enjoy the very ample dispensation recently given to those living in Latin America by the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs dated 6 July 1900?

"Response. To 1. Affirmative, unless a person belongs to a rite approved by the Holy See which employs another language, according to the Decree of this Sacred Congregation dated 18 August 1868; but His Holiness is to be petitioned that the vernacular language may be used in private recitation. - To 2. Negative, for the purpose of enjoying the Sabbatine privilege. - To 3. His Holiness is to be petitioned that the members of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, as regards fasts, may be able to use the diocesan Indult, with the faculty being given to the confessor of commuting, for individual petitioners, the abstinence of Wednesday and Saturday into other works, and that He deign to declare both concessions valid for every region. Anything whatsoever to the contrary, and especially the decision for Capua of 3 December 1892, notwithstanding." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 11 June 1901.

"... Therefore, providing in this manner for the salvation of souls, insofar as it was permitted to Us in the Lord, We took care to extend and render easier the pious custom of applying the pontifical plenary indulgence to children of the Church placed at the point of death; and, the faculty having been permitted to Our venerable and beloved sons, the bishops and prelates of churches, to subdelegate other priests for this purpose, both in cities and in dioceses, We think that no small relief has been brought by Us to their anxieties and cares. Nevertheless, We wish it to be declared to them that it was not Our intention to exempt them altogether from this office of paternal charity, of visiting personally the wretched sick who desire to obtain plenary absolution at the final moment, but to aid their piety opportunely, lest, while they themselves are detained by other pastoral cares, they should have to grieve that the faithful committed to them departed this life deprived of so great a spiritual benefit. But those who rejoice to exercise a pious work of this kind personally [which indeed We trust that all will do whenever they are not legitimately impeded] should remember that it is to be afforded not only to the more noble and powerful of this world, but also to the poor and to persons of lowly condition. Concerning this matter, the homily of Our predecessor Saint Gregory the Great, homily 28 on the Gospels, upon chapter IV of John, There was a certain ruler whose son was sick at Capernaum, can profitably be read; in it he observes the wonderful and heavenly manner of acting of Our most beloved Redeemer Jesus Christ, who, when invited to visit the ruler's sick son, refused to go, yet declares that He will go to the servant of the Centurion even though He was not invited. What is this, that the ruler asks Him to come to his son, and yet He refuses to come; but He is not invited to the servant of the Centurion, and nevertheless promises to go bodily? He does not deign to be present bodily with the ruler's son; He does not disdain to hasten to the servant of the Centurion.

"... And since the Roman Ritual enjoins priests who piously assist the faithful laboring in their final agony, or administer to them the Sacraments of the Church, that if the sick person can obtain a plenary indulgence granted by legitimate authority, they should recall it to his mind and propose what he must do to obtain it; but of those who have been reduced to such a state, some retain, with full cognition, the complete use of speech, while others have lost the faculty of speaking, although they previously gave indications of sincere contrition and, while still using reason, do not cease repeatedly to give them: therefore, so that all the aforesaid may more certainly be able to obtain the fruit of the indulgence, We command the aforesaid priests to strive by every means to arouse the dying faithful to elicit new acts of sorrow for sins committed and to conceive affections of most fervent charity toward God, but especially to accept death itself with an equable and willing mind from the hand of the Lord. For this is the principal work We impose and enjoin upon persons placed at such a moment, whereby they may prepare and dispose themselves to obtain the fruit of the plenary indulgence." Benedict XIV, Pia Mater. Cf. A. S. S., vol. 11, p. 405 ff.

"At least the mental invocation of the Most Holy Name of Jesus is a condition sine qua non for all the Christian faithful who, placed at the point of death, wish to obtain a plenary indulgence by virtue of this blessing." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 22 September 1892; A. S. S., vol. 25, p. 316.

"Lest the Christian faithful living in mission territories in any part of the world, and placed in the final danger of life, should lack those spiritual aids which the Catholic Church, as a pious Mother, is accustomed mercifully to impart to her children departing from this world, Our Most Holy Lord Clement XIV, Pope by Divine Providence, because of the extraordinary charity with which he embraces them paternally, most lovingly grants to each and every Most Reverend Patriarch, Archbishop, Bishop, Vicar Apostolic, and also to the Most Reverend Prefects or Superiors of missions, whether of the secular or regular clergy, now existing or at any time to exist in mission territories, as above, the faculty of imparting the blessing with a plenary indulgence to the aforesaid faithful reduced to the final agony, with this extension also, that they can and may communicate a faculty of this kind to priests and respectively to missionaries subject to their jurisdiction, but only for places in their dioceses or for the districts of the missions, provided that in imparting this blessing the formula prescribed by Benedict XIV, of sacred memory, in the Constitution given on 9 April 1747 which begins Pia Mater, to be recorded below, is observed.

"But since it can easily happen that some of the aforesaid Christian faithful depart this life without having been fortified by the Sacraments of the Church and without the assistance of any priest, therefore His Holiness, from the abundant font of Apostolic benignity, grants a plenary indulgence also to them if, being contrite, they shall have invoked the name of Jesus at least in their heart, shall have accepted death from the hand of the Lord with that Christian submission of mind and humility of spirit which is fitting, and shall have commended their soul into the hands of their Creator. In order that this last part of the Decree may become known to all the Christian faithful, let the aforementioned prelates and superiors take care and strive to publish it repeatedly in their dioceses and missions, and especially at the time of sacred visitation." Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 5 April 1772.

"According to the indult granted by the Holy See, all missionaries have by communication the faculty of bestowing a plenary indulgence upon those placed at the point of death. But since they rarely find the faithful placed precisely at the point of death, it comes about that some bestow the said indulgence when there is merely danger of death, although it does not appear to threaten very nearly; but others, according to the rigor of the words, do not apply it except at the time when the agony appears near; and then, when they do not observe so proximate a danger of death, whether by means of medals to which indulgences of this kind are annexed by authority of the Holy See, which they give to the faithful, or by means of the invocation of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, as has been granted by several Supreme Pontiffs, they admonish the faithful to fulfill the conditions by which they may merit to obtain so great a benefit. If the Sacred Congregation should judge it proper to determine to which position adherence should rather be given, all of us, however many we are, will stand ready for the judgment of the Holy See. - Response. As to that which is disputed among the missionaries concerning the time for imparting a plenary indulgence to those placed at the point of death, the Sacred Congregation judged that circumstance of time sufficient for its lawful conferral which suffices for conferring Extreme Unction itself, namely, when the sick person is seen by force of the illness to be tending toward death. Nor is a time nearer to the agony to be awaited, when the sick person, scarcely in possession of himself, is entirely incapable of producing those movements of soul which the Roman Ritual demands, so that the fruit of so great a benefit, as of Extreme Unction, may be perceived more abundantly. Therefore, it will be the duty of missionaries, after sacramental anointing has been administered to the sick person, to arouse him to conceive in his mind those things which are read in the same book of the Ritual, and immediately afterward to fortify him with so signal a benefit of plenary remission; and they should perform this especially when they foresee that they will not return." Holy Office, January 1780.

"Can the Apostolic blessing be imparted several times when a new danger of death recurs? - Response. Negative while the illness, even if prolonged, continues; but affirmative if the sick person has recovered and then for any cause returns into a new danger of death." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 24 September 1838.

"1. Whether, by virtue of the preceding resolution [case from Valencia, 5 February 1841, by which a sick person cannot, in the same point of death, gain a plenary indulgence to be imparted by several priests having the faculty], it is forbidden that this plenary indulgence at the point of death, which is commonly called the Papal Blessing, be imparted several times by the same or by several priests having this faculty to a sick person remaining in the same danger of death? 2. Whether, by virtue of the same resolution, it is likewise forbidden that a plenary indulgence at the point of death be imparted several times to a sick person placed in the same circumstances as above by several priests having this faculty from different titles, by reason of enrollment in the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, of the Holy Scapular of Mount Carmel, of the Most Holy Trinity, etc.? - Response. Affirmative to both, the resolution in the case from Valencia dated 5 February 1841 remaining in force." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 12 March 1852; 12 June 1884; M. E., vol. 12, p. 532 ff.

"Since on the one hand it is expressly determined that an Indulgence at the point of death cannot be applied for the departed, but on the other hand those who have made the heroic act for the departed can offer for them all Indulgences, even those which otherwise are not applicable for the departed, it is therefore asked: a) Whether those who have made the aforesaid heroic act can, and indeed, if they do not wish to revoke that act, even must offer for the departed the Indulgence gained at the point of death? And if affirmative: b) Whether, the heroic act having been made, a plenary Indulgence at the point of death, although gained under various titles and by repeating the respective works, is nevertheless gained for the departed only once and not several times? - Response. To the first part: No response is to be given. To the second part, the doubt having been reformulated as follows: Whether those who have made the aforesaid heroic act and can gain several Plenary Indulgences at the point of death under various titles may gain at least one Plenary Indulgence for the departed, but reserve the others for themselves? - Response. As in the preceding response to the first part, and according to the mind; the mind, however, is that the plenary Indulgence granted for the point of death is gained only once, that is, at the true point of death, even if the dying person has a right to it under various titles." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 23 January 1901.

"1. Whether a plenary indulgence at the point of death, which is customarily granted without another declaration added, is to be understood at the true point of death, at the presumed point, or finally at both? 2. Whether a plenary indulgence at the point of death is to be granted to all who petition? 3. Whether those who are contrite but neither have confessed nor been refreshed by Holy Communion obtain the plenary indulgence which the Roman Pontiffs commonly grant to petitioners for the point of death? - Response. To 1. It is to be understood only at the true point of death. - To 2. It is to be granted to all who petition. - To 3. Persons of this kind who are contrite gain the indulgence if the Pontiff in his grant does not require confession or something else similar." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 23 April 1675.